Wendy Davis’ filibuster against abortion was a heroic stand. For a dozen hours, she stood railing against yet another big government expansion, and, for a moment there, she brought liberals and conservatives together in agreement on a common point: Excessive regulations kill jobs and shut down institutions.
Yes, Davis and the Democrats appear to be finally succumbing to facts now that abortion is the topic of discussion. One of their main arguments against the Texas bill is that the unnecessary regulations will cause dozens of abortion clinics to shut down.
On CNN, Davis wrote, “It [the bill] would close down almost 90% of the women’s clinics in this state.” Liberals have been spreading a map that claims to show Texas will only have five abortion clinics if the bill passes. Abortion doctors have said that they can’t afford the $1 million or more it will cost them to keep their clinics open.
It’s refreshing that liberals are finally realizing what over-regulation does to industry, but I just wish they were more consistent on their position and would apply it to other industries besides the abortion industry.
Why is it that some of the same Democrats rallying behind Davis–Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi among them–were some of the ones most instrumental in passing Obamacare?
Obamacare has already created thousands upon thousands of pages of regulations. The bill mandates what must be covered and forces people to pay much more than they paid before Obamacare. Businesses are now moving workers to part time and slowing down hiring because of the burdensome costs posed by the bill.
The “Affordable Healthcare Act” is just one of many bills that have made it harder and harder to do business under the Obama administration’s term. In the first three years of Obama’s term, 129 major regulations were created, according to Bloomberg news, adding a cost of $46 billion to businesses, according to the Heritage Institute. That’s before Obama even gets around to eventually implementing Obamacare.
EPA regulations are shutting down coal plants across the country. Obama even wants to regulate coal plants’ carbon emissions.
From the federal government on down, regulations are doing to all kinds of businesses just what Davis said they would do to clinics. In Washington, DC, if you are a “large retailer,” you have to pay your workers 50 percent more than the minimum wage. As for smaller retailers? They can keep paying the regular minimum wage that DC lawmakers apparently think isn’t enough to get by on.
The result: Wal Mart has said they will not open a store, DC residents will not have access to a low-cost shopping option, people will not have the opportunity to find a job there, and potential workers will face tougher competition as they try to find a job earning minimum wage at a small retail store.
Davis is right; unnecessary big government policies are intruding into people’s lives on a massive scale. But abortion regulation is far from the most egregious examples. Fast food restaurants are having to display nutrition info on everything, because people are unaware that a Big Mac and a meat-lover’s pizza are unhealthy. Oil refineries have to put corn-based ethanol into fuel that taxpayers pay for, because U.S. farmers need to line their wallets while decreasing the world’s food supply, even though the production costs of ethanol outweigh the energy savings. Those same refiners are also being fined for not using a nonexistent biofuel in their gasoline.
Inane business licensing regulations are enforced so stringently that homeless shoeshiners in San Francisco have to pay all their earnings for business licenses, as do bloggers in Philadelphia who earn $5 a year engaging in constitutionally-protected free speech, and children who set up lemonade stands on streets across the country.
Even magicians who pull rabbits out of a hat have to write a “disaster plan” for the rabbit. Apparently making sure a rabbit is safe during a hurricane is more important than attempting to make sure a woman is safe during an abortion.
As the Washington Post article detailing the case of magician Marty Hahne notes, regulations continue to be written for years after laws are originally passed. In this case, the regulation in question was proposed 40 years after the law it is based on was passed. So even after businesses finally get done reading the first batch of as-yet unfinished Obamacare and Dodd-Frank rules, there will be new rules coming at them with each passing day.
No, I certainly can’t disagree with Davis on the problem of over-regulation. I hope she will continue to fight over-regulation when it impacts other aspects of our lives.
Wayne Bradley is a blogger on Conservative Bro and the host of The Wayne Bradley Show. 
